Tag Archives: Winnipeg

Kevin McDonald is an ingenious comedic performer and writer currently based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Originally from Toronto, McDonald is best known as a member of the hugely influential Canadian sketch troupe, the Kids in the Hall. This August marks the first anniversary of McDonald’s inventive variety show podcast, Kevin McDonald’s Kevin McDonald Show, a mix of sketch comedy and conversations and musical performances, which has featured guest turns from Mike Myers, Wallace Shawn, Rachel Dratch, Ted Leo, Michael Showalter, Craig Finn, Susanna Hoffs, Rob Corddry, and his fellow Kids, Scott Thompson and Dave Foley, among many others. McDonald and I had a chat recently about living in Winnipeg, his idiosyncratic approach to comedy podcasts, John Lennon’s perfect rock ‘n’ roll life, the new wave of sketch comedy, news about the Kids in the Hall and their upcoming appearance at a benefit show featuring Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, and many members of the original SCTV cast, and much more. Sponsored by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, Planet Bean Coffee, and Grandad’s Donuts.

Andy Shauf is a talented songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist who originally hails from Saskatchewan. Over the past four years, Shauf has released critically acclaimed and vibrant pop records whose dark textures contain clever lyrics and infectious melodies. He made quite a statement with 2015’s The Bearer of Bad News and has possibly even topped that wondrous record with this year’s conceptual LP, The Party, which is out now via ANTI- and Arts & Crafts Records. He’s been busy touring and will be playing the Hillside Festival in Guelph the weekend of July 22 before heading across the United States with case/lang/veirs. Here, Andy and I discuss being in Winnipeg vs. being in Regina, the East India Company restaurant, Portage and Main, missing home and moving to Toronto, renting a condo and buying a piano and a bed, elevators are hell, dizziness and astronaut material, entering outer space on a big plane, celebrity condo, Andy’s excellent cross Canada adventure to get a new van, on the level, making The Party in a former CBC Radio studio in Regina, Jason Plumb of the Waltons, recording and working in seclusion, people who think they know what to do, the live band, being a multi-instrumentalist, drum lessons, attending a Christian high school and not thinking about that stuff too much, Olivier Fairfield, Josh Daignault, Colin Nealis, the band Fet.Nat, poaching musicians, The Party and Blake Edwards’ 1968 film starring Peter Sellers called The Party, the loose concept of The Party, drinking alcohol at a party, dumb things Andy does at parties, party life, The Party’s characters like Jeremy, Sherri, Alexander, and Martha, character studies in songs and giving them lives, “Jack and Diane II,” getting into Randy Newman, pop-punk and Elliott Smith, finding his voice and writing 100 songs, artistic trajectories and foresight, critical feedback loops, Saskatchewan gives you time, when Andy’s music transcended Canada and he got busy, gradual success, writing one new song, playing the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the song “To You,” and then things elevated.

Christine Fellows lives in Winnipeg, MB and is one of the world’s best songwriters. She is an adventurous and compelling storyteller and a gifted musician who brings her work into other disciplines for really cool collaborations. Her sixth album also includes her first book of poetry; both are called Burning Daylight and were released by ARP Books on September 23. Here, Christine and I discuss things like how good looking Kyle at Milagro Mercer Mexican Cantina in Toronto is, secret menu items and difficult customers, good Toronto food areas and bikeability, the sparseness of Burning Daylight, the drums, the influence of writer/Klondike chronicler/renaissance man Jack London, the short story “To Build a Fire,” the Dawson City Music Festival songwriter’s residency, curling clinics and natural ice, rickety planes in the Yukon Territory, the gold rush and men, Women of the Klondike, the song “To Build a Fire,” we are full, our budgies Pickles and Buddy, things to know about budgies, Marianne Moore and her bathtub alligator, cats and computers, Gary the cat, I miss Buddy, sled dogs, celebration and adaptation, growing up in Kelowna, a drum kit and a punching bag, reading and remembering, the Humber College jazz program and the University of Guelph philosophy and english departments, that fucking Stephen Harper, meeting John K. Samson, couples who consult each other about their art, working in Nunavut and the Northwest Passage, how the Inuit people are oppressed, getting into the world of poetry, a new show with Shary Boyle, ARP Books, Jason Tait lives in Winnipeg again, the spoken word song “The Gold-Seekers,” and then it’s adios.